Tissue grafts are often used to treat gaps, lesions, or other defects in tissue that are caused by trauma, infection or chronic degeneration, joint revision surgery, and oral/maxillofacial surgery. Bone grafts also can be used to treat fractures, gaps, or other defects in bone. Grafts provide a framework into which the host tissue can regenerate and heal. Once implanted, the living cells integrate into the porous microstructure of the graft to support the new tissue as it grows to repair damaged areas.
The loss or failure of tissue is one of the most frequent and costly problems in human health care. In recent years, grafting has evolved from autograft and allograft preparations to biosynthetic and tissue-engineered living replacements. Tissue engineering enables the growth of transplantable functional tissue replacements starting from samples of autologous cells of the patient. The autologous cells are obtained by harvesting tissue from a patient using a biopsy and then cells are extracted from the tissue sample and cultured to the appropriate numbers in the laboratory. These living cells are then placed in a three-dimensional natural or synthetic scaffold or matrix, and are kept under tissue-specific culture conditions to ensure differentiation and tissue maturation. If provided with the appropriate conditions and signals, the cells will secrete various matrix materials to create living tissue that can be implanted back into the defective site in the patient.
Current tissue engineering procedures involve a multi-step process. First, a biopsy is performed to remove a tissue sample from a patient's body. A variety of biopsy devices are well known in the art, including, for example, high-pressure fluid jets that are effective to cut and retrieve a tissue sample. Once the biopsy procedure is complete, the tissue sample is sent to a laboratory, where cells are isolated from the tissue sample. The isolated cells can then be placed into a three-dimensional scaffold for subsequent growth and eventually, implantation back into the patient in a second surgical procedure.
While current procedures have proven effective, they can be very time-consuming, costly, and involve multiple surgical procedures. Accordingly, there exists a need for more efficient and effective methods and devices for obtaining and processing a tissue sample. There also remains a need for an improved tissue extraction device that maximizes cell viability and that provides surgeons with an efficient, easy-to-use device in a compact form.